Politico: BUY OUR GANGSTA OBAMA SHIRT & GET OBAMA BOXERS FREE!!!!
The hawking of a president
Hurry! Don’t Delay! Only 39 more Barack Obama shopping days before Christmas!
How many times in the past 24 hours have you turned on the television and heard a commanding male voice:
“He gave America hope,” it begins. “He inspired the country,” it continues.
“Now you can own a piece of American history. Call today!"
The economy may be in the tank, but the American entrepreneurial spirit is still hard at work.
The special TV offer for Barack Obama coins - buy one Inaugural Dollar layered in 24-karat gold and get the President Barack Obama Kennedy half-dollar for $4.95! - is just a whiff of the opportunistic post-election hawking of all commemorative things Obama.
Americans were never ones to let a timely money-making prospect expire before cashing in. After all, Joe the Plumber has a book deal. So, in true American fashion, campaign bumper stickers and buttons have given way to a memorabilia jambalaya of DVDs, coins, travel coffee mugs and even porcelain plates bearing images of Obama’s face.
Certainly you’ve seen the plates.
“America's first African-American commander in chief,” the commercial voice-over explains. “His confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all.”
“I never thought this day would come,” says a white man seated alongside his wife and two children.
At $19.99 apiece, these plates are being sold by the same “as seen on TV” company that brought you those steps to help your dog get up onto the bed. There is a two-per-person limit on the plates.
But wait! There are other plates. The “Yes We Can Barack Obama Commemorative Collector Plate” is more expensive ($34.95). But the center of this plate has three images of Barack Obama, each from a different angle.
Decisions, decisions.
Obama’s election has not escaped the mainstream media, either. Commemorative newspapers and magazines are being sold for many, many times their newsstand prices.
Time’s Obama edition is going on eBay for $18, and a Craigslist posting offers Newsday’s Sunday-after-the-election copy for $10 - more than six times the newspaper’s cost. The Chicago Sun Times has an online store for commemorative Obama trinkets, including a DVD chronicling election night.
The New York Times is also cashing in, offering a copy of the Nov. 5, 2008, Gray Lady (“which boldly reported Obama's decisive victory over John McCain,” the promo intones) for just $14.95. Or how about their “Deluxe ‘OBAMA’ Framed Front Page Reprint - With Brass Plate,” for the amazingly low-low price of just $299?
Even the newspaper in Middletown, Ohio, is selling extra copies of its Nov. 5 edition. The 50-cent price includes a free “commemorative, glossy President-elect Barack Obama ‘Hail to the Chiefs’ poster.”
There are Obama key chains, fake $8 bills with Obama’s face printed on them, and the downright perplexing his-and-hers Rastafarian red, green and gold Michelle and Barack Obama T-shirts.
To borrow from one of the plate commercials: “Yes, you can own a piece of history.”
But sorry - so far, at least, no Ginsu knives included.
Special edition commemorative sauce
I don't know about the rest of you, but I see those Obama coin commercials EVERY TIME I watch Keith and Rachel.
Hurry! Don’t Delay! Only 39 more Barack Obama shopping days before Christmas!
How many times in the past 24 hours have you turned on the television and heard a commanding male voice:
“He gave America hope,” it begins. “He inspired the country,” it continues.
“Now you can own a piece of American history. Call today!"
The economy may be in the tank, but the American entrepreneurial spirit is still hard at work.
The special TV offer for Barack Obama coins - buy one Inaugural Dollar layered in 24-karat gold and get the President Barack Obama Kennedy half-dollar for $4.95! - is just a whiff of the opportunistic post-election hawking of all commemorative things Obama.
Americans were never ones to let a timely money-making prospect expire before cashing in. After all, Joe the Plumber has a book deal. So, in true American fashion, campaign bumper stickers and buttons have given way to a memorabilia jambalaya of DVDs, coins, travel coffee mugs and even porcelain plates bearing images of Obama’s face.
Certainly you’ve seen the plates.
“America's first African-American commander in chief,” the commercial voice-over explains. “His confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all.”
“I never thought this day would come,” says a white man seated alongside his wife and two children.
At $19.99 apiece, these plates are being sold by the same “as seen on TV” company that brought you those steps to help your dog get up onto the bed. There is a two-per-person limit on the plates.
But wait! There are other plates. The “Yes We Can Barack Obama Commemorative Collector Plate” is more expensive ($34.95). But the center of this plate has three images of Barack Obama, each from a different angle.
Decisions, decisions.
Obama’s election has not escaped the mainstream media, either. Commemorative newspapers and magazines are being sold for many, many times their newsstand prices.
Time’s Obama edition is going on eBay for $18, and a Craigslist posting offers Newsday’s Sunday-after-the-election copy for $10 - more than six times the newspaper’s cost. The Chicago Sun Times has an online store for commemorative Obama trinkets, including a DVD chronicling election night.
The New York Times is also cashing in, offering a copy of the Nov. 5, 2008, Gray Lady (“which boldly reported Obama's decisive victory over John McCain,” the promo intones) for just $14.95. Or how about their “Deluxe ‘OBAMA’ Framed Front Page Reprint - With Brass Plate,” for the amazingly low-low price of just $299?
Even the newspaper in Middletown, Ohio, is selling extra copies of its Nov. 5 edition. The 50-cent price includes a free “commemorative, glossy President-elect Barack Obama ‘Hail to the Chiefs’ poster.”
There are Obama key chains, fake $8 bills with Obama’s face printed on them, and the downright perplexing his-and-hers Rastafarian red, green and gold Michelle and Barack Obama T-shirts.
To borrow from one of the plate commercials: “Yes, you can own a piece of history.”
But sorry - so far, at least, no Ginsu knives included.
Special edition commemorative sauce
I don't know about the rest of you, but I see those Obama coin commercials EVERY TIME I watch Keith and Rachel.